Contributions
1,299 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightI am afraid that my right hon. Friend has too little faith in the UK Government. We have repeatedly said—and he knows this as well as anyone—that such payments or penalties would…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightThe scope, the rules, the jurisdiction, if you like, and the powers of the Joint Committee are very ably set out in the withdrawal agreement. I suggest that my hon. Friend peruses…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightAs I have said to the House, there will be ample scope for debate and consultation. The Government fully understand that the House has to have an active role in shaping and…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightI do not accept the premise of my right hon. Friend’s question. Clearly, our relationship with the EU over decades was complicated and involved and the withdrawal agreement is a…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightI assure the hon. Gentleman that I have not been consumed by a tiger and I am still smiling. If we get the deal through the House—I look forward to his support in that—we will…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightThere are two stages to the process. Clearly, there is the period after the end of the implementation period when the CJEU will decide matters of EU law. During the implementation…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightI want to clarify that there is no scope within the Joint Committee for some form of delegation or negotiating team. Its sole function is to ensure that the terms of the…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightOn that specific question, the Joint Committee will have a role in suggesting what has not been foreseen. This is a very hypothetical question. What I find so extraordinary in…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightOn that list of questions, it would be absolutely customary and right for a Government Minister to make a statement when the Joint Committee had opined or made recommendations.…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightIf my right hon. Friend would not insist on heckling me, I would also suggest the key part of all of this is paragraph 3 of article 166, which refers to “mutual consent”. The…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightMy right hon. Friend asked me which bits of what he said I agree with, or which bits I thought were true or not true. Clearly, I agree with some of the things he said, and I think…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightAs is common in international agreements, the withdrawal agreement provides for a Joint Committee comprising representatives of the UK and the EU to govern the implementation and…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightMy understanding is that the Government’s engagement with this House will be full, and as transparent as possible, in respect of decisions and meetings of the Joint Committee. I…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightMy hon. Friend is quite right to say that the EU may have a veto, but just as the mutual consent provision gives the EU a veto, it also gives us—the UK Government—a veto over such…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightWith regard to the Joint Committee, if we assume that the implementation period lasts until the end of 2020, as is set forth in the agreement, there will certainly be ministerial…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightWe fully anticipate and hope that the Assembly will be restored, but in the absence of its restoration we will engage, as we have done, with those of all shades of political…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightI admire my right hon. Friend’s brevity and succinctness.20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightOnce again I have to say that I think all my colleagues, all my right hon. and hon. Friends, have very full confidence in our civil service. With regard to my hon. Friend’s…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightIt is absolutely the intention of this Government to have ministerial responsibility, ministerial attendance, at meetings of the Joint Committee. We fully envisage that that will…20 Mar 2019HANSARDEU Withdrawal Joint Committee: OversightOn the hon. Gentleman’s first point, I would like to put it on the record that we have an extremely fine and professional body of civil servants. I think that that is undisputed…20 Mar 2019